Colour

Colour is spelled differently in different parts of the world: add a U, remove a U. Does colour change its spelling depending on what the colour of the skin is? Does the skin colour make so much of a difference in viewing people?

I have discovered — apparently so. Colour of the skin matters to most people, some openly show it, their rudeness is appalling, and some show it with their subtle insulting remarks.

Colour of the skin is due to the amount of melanin present in the cells of the upper layers of the skin. I don’t think even melanin knows or realises, it is so important. Sometimes, both sides of the human coin, presence or lack of melanin, makes people go in extreme directions, with extreme views.

I, recently, have had the great pleasure of being on the business end of such rude remarks, apparently because I am an Indian, and English is not my language to speak. I learnt two things: misconceptions of India still persist, and English is an exclusive possession of some.

In a short span of time, I have met people who fight against racism and discrimination. Some go really overboard and insulting with their fights, thereby defeating their purpose of putting forth their point with dignity. There are multiple blogs on it. Twitter has a lot of tweets on it. I do not know much about this, rather I did not know much about this, till people on Facebook made me aware of how different I am.

I always thought different was good. So many people do weird stuff just to stand out, just to be different, to appear different. Here I was given brickbats because I am different. The world works with weird logic.

Whatever be the logic, whatever be the skin, whatever be the language, and however different we all may be, but the fact of the matter is colourmatters.. What a volte-face! I have joined the opposite side…🙃😱

But hang on, listen to what I have to say. Let me finish my thoughts. It is not the colour of the skin which matters but the colour of the heart. Our prejudices colour our heart, colour our soul. Whatever we imbibe, the heart takes on the hue of it.

Every heart in the written world, heart as an emoji or heart in images, anywhere you see, heart is pink, it ideally stands for purelove. (I have given anaesthesia for cardiac surgery, so I do know that the real heart is light pink to salmon pink). Now add the prejudices, the discrimination, the subtle or evident insults from both sides, and the pure pink hue of the heart is gone. It turns grey, greyer, black.

And so I say colour matters: colour of the heart, colour of our soul. It matters. It damn well matters. If the heart is not pure (textbook pink💗), the light of the soul fades.

Every good deed makes the heart pinker and the soul brighter. It is the colour of the heart which decides where we stand as human beings….

—This post is dedicated to Anindya, not because he was my inspiration, but because he trusted me enough to invite me to write for his blog, on any topic as I so wished.

Probably… Sometimes we all have to let it out… Otherwise it gets too much. This has been on my mind for quite some time, the first episode happened a few months ago, the second a week back. I was disturbed Nel, so I had to write… May not change people but I had to write…

Of course. I’m not saying not write. Definitely write. I, myself am just immune to it now cause I’ve dealt with it my whole life and people are stupid and really set in their ways. So I waste my energy when I feel change is a true possibility. I don’t condemn anyone else for it at all girlie.

I understand babes, I know how you are by now, via your comments.
It’s just that sometimes, after I write, say my piece, I am at peace and I can let go of the incident. I write for me and if it hits some people in the right or wrong way— that’s their lookout and good for them.

unfortunately, Shalini, the importance of skin color is something that is impressed into us at an young age. If someone makes it a big deal, then most likely, it’ll be a big deal when we grow older. yes, some people are born with the capacity to be more judgemental than others, but it’s often the circumstances surrounding an upbringing that leads to the prejudice.

Maybe so Jina, but if we can learn things both good and bad in life, then why can’t we learn to be more accepting, being kinder, preserving our humanity.
There are lot of things impressed on us but as we grow up, see the world, we should start using our brains our knowledge… Upbringing cannot be the excuse anymore in this time and space

I agree with you, Shalini, but there are alot of impressionable people out there. if they are taught that skin color matters, then it will matter. very few people will discard it once they are grown. It shouldn’t be an excuse, Shalini, that’s true, but people often look for excuses instead of admitting they were wrong.

I’d like to say that it’s true, but i don’t know. this is more complex a topic than black and white, many explanations. As i believe i’ve told you once, I grew up in Brazil, where skin color and race matters to some, but interracial relationships happen all the time. Once i left and travelled to other countries i realized that although racism – skin color, religion, background – was common in many places, the reason for it wasn’t always the same. Does that mean they are all bad, evil people? I don’t have the answer to that either. It’s wrong, definitely, but does it make that person, as a whole, a bad person?knew others who just didn’t care.

Jina, I come from India where skin colour is extremely important. It is impressed upon us in both subtle and direct ways. Caste system still exists here. Horoscopes are still matched before weddings. Omens are still believed, superstitions still exist. Every human in this world comes from a certain background, has a culture with its own beliefs.
How we act is most important. How I treat my fellow human beings is most important. Every human in this world is equal there are no scriptures, no holy books, no writings of the Gods which says otherwise. We are no one to judge any other person based on skin colour. The moment we treat the other person in a derogatory manner based on skin colour, we ARE A BAD PERSON. no two ways about it.
Every human being has to be judged only on his action, his karma, not on his appearance.
Amount of melanin makes no human being superior or inferior. There can be no reason for racism. And anyone who discriminates and gives excuse of background or culture, it makes them a bad person and actually a stupid person.
It’s just by chance, that we are born with our skin colour, how can that be important. Not in this day or time.
What is in the background does not make us bad or evil. How we act makes us bad or evil, what we teach our children makes us good or bad, how we treat our fellow human beings makes us good or bad.
This is not a complex topic. It is simple and straightforward. Treat everyone as equals. Beliefs and culture don’t matter, only our action matters.

I understand what you’re saying.
I know and respect all the above, so do you, so do millions of other people.
but not all. Unfortunately, an ideal world is not what we have. I’m a muslim, and i know other judge me not by the color of my skin, but at my choice of attire, my religious preferences. It’s true that every religion casts us humans in one equal category,.

the problem is within ourselves. we see and hear about racism and we let it be. It’s a choice, most definitely, not something we are born with.
But still, Shalini, (and i’m defending no one’s actions here) the world isn’t only black and white.
That are plenty of shades in between, and some actions are pure evil while others are just bad. some are harmful, others harm no one but oneself.

Judging others by their skin color, class, religious preferences is wrong, i agree with you all the way. but those who judge don’t consider themselves wrong. In their eyes we are wrong for wanting to be equal.
I used to know a person who thought black people were inferiors beings – but the majority of his clients were african American. He never paused to consider the fact he was a hypocrite and that his livelihood came from the peopl he so scorned.
I don’t know how the situation is in India, and i don’t mean to sound contradictory , and i apologize if that’s how i come off.
Again, i agree with what you are saying, Shalini, i just can’t judge a person in their entirety for one bad trait.
no human is perfect, i certainly have made plenty of bad choices, that’s what makes me a human.

Hi Jina, the world has shades of grey – I agree. I can’t change the world and neither can you. But what I can change and improve is my actions. My understanding of other people, my actions, how I treat everyone. In the entire post, I have talked about what I have realised. It’s not about an ideal world. Ideal world will never happen. Since you understand the pain when people judge you, you can change how you act further, you can change what you teach your kids, you can change how you choose your friends, you can change how you interact with the world.
Racism cannot be graded, it is just racism, and it has repercussions.
Those who judge don’t consider themselves wrong-— that’s their lookout. One bad trait of considering people inferior is wrong in all ways. You can’t call this human. Because how that person treats the other is inhumane.
Racism is learnt, no child at birth understands colour of skin. So it’s not a human fallacy, it is not a human trait, it is not a natural flaw. it is learnt and it progresses. Saying “I am treating others inferior to me, because I am a human being and I have flaws” —is not acceptable anymore.
It’s upto you how you treat people in your world. When strangers on Facebook thought me to be inferior, I didn’t like it. I didn’t consider those people as flawed. I considered them RACISTS AND DAMN STUPID. I cannot forgive them saying they are being human, they have been taught to consider themselves superior. That’s is no longer acceptable. In this time and space, when life is going beyond earth, such thoughts are not acceptable, should not be acceptable to you or to me.
If we continue the same line of thinking what are we giving to our children, what are we teaching the future generation.
RACISM IS NOT A CHARACTER FLAW, IT IS WAY OF THINKING, AND THERE IS ONLY DESTRUCTION IN IT.

I understand, I really do. Like i said, I’m not defending their actions. I too, believe racism is bad, something we humans impress into our children at a very young age. It progresses and evolves, and although as adults we understand the difference between right and wrong, a child who’s taught he’s superior because of skin, class or religion believes himself to be superior – he won’t admit as an adult that he had been raised wrong – specially to those he’d been taught he was better.
Again, i agree that it’s wrong, i seriously do. i’m not defending the adult who grew up believing there are inferiors to his superiority.
But i’ve seen it happen before, as a child growing up, as a teen in school, even as an adult.
I never spoke up then, and sometimes i believe it’s the lack of contradiction when we watch something wrong happening and refuse to interfere – because we tell ourselves – and teach our children that it’s none of our business what people do.

But that’s another topic. when you spoke in your post about skin color, i mentioned that racism isn’t something we are born with, but something taught to children at a very young age.

Beautifully written post Shalini…as you have told me about your problems I know this post means a lot to you and rightly so…you couldn’t have expressed any better than you already did…….and thank you…I am honored and humbled…..you can write on my blog on any day on any topic you like….😊👍

I do know that…thanks for letting me know that…it feels good to connect with someone and share….and you know what….i wonder what would we do…if not write when emotions come…i write and get myself busy as soon as it happens…and it happens more than often.

I generally don’t share. I am used to dealing with things on my own. Life happens, things happen. I have lived enough years to understand that. But sometimes I write… Thanks to your words of encouragement

And i started coz of my family…i used to write and destroy….one day my sis saw and read and then the pestering started to write more….she even send my poems to AIR(all india radio)…did not wanted all this…but now i am hoooked for good!!

It is not about loneliness. It’s about adat/habit. I got used to dealing with life alone. And frankly speaking, I didn’t think I could write. I still don’t know how I do it. When I consciously sit down to write, I can’t think of a single topic. But when something hurts my dignity, or my emotions, then words just write themselves… I am discovering new things about myself

Hi.. I don’t like connecting to people other than by words. Facebook is too intrusive. My experience on Facebook is not very good. Anybody and everybody can send stupid messages… I don’t post on Facebook.

This is just so so true, such a different perspective. I never in my dreams could think that colour can matter so much. Today, I am proud to say that yes colour matters , the colour of our hearts! So beautiful ❤

Yes this is not a book review.
It’s about individual decision and individual view, I cannot comment on what will be there. Do you believe in God? Then the scriptures say we are an embodiment of the same God. If God is about love Then hate cannot be a natural emotion. Hate towards colour is learnt

If we are conditioned to hate and discrimination ourselves, then how will we teach them love and equality? We would be fakes, hypocrites. So we have to start practicing equality before we teach equality